An open collection of baseball's little-known records and curiosities.

"He would have been among the league leaders in batting average for a majority of the season had he had enough plate appearances." -- 2008 St. Louis Cardinals Media Guide about non-roster invitee Mark Johnson

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A- Errors By Position

It's time for another installment of minor league error leaders. I've already done similar posts for higher levels of minor league baseball: AAA errors by position, AA errors by position posts, A+ errors by position, and A errors by position. Today’s post is about Low A (or Short-Season A) baseball. There are only two leagues at this level: the Northwest League and the New York-Penn League. The Northwest League plays a 76-game schedule and the New York-Penn League plays a similar number of games. These leagues are intended to allow teams to break in college draftees judged too experienced for rookie level leagues while also providing a place for players stuck in between rookie ball and regular A ball. Not every major league organization has a team in Low A ball as the two leagues combined have only 22 teams. The organizations not represented are Atlanta, Chicago (AL), Cincinnati, Kansas City, Los Angeles (AL & NL), Milwaukee, and Minnesota.

A- Pitchers

A- Pitchers Sorted By Most Errors

Name

Team

Org.

TC

E

FPct.

David Stokes

Oneonta

DET

24

4

.833

Jarred Holloway

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

22

4

.818

Wilber Bucardo

Salem-Keizer

SFG

21

4

.810

Stephen Procner

Aberdeen

BAL

16

4

.750

Martin Perez

Spokane

TEX

14

4

.714

Israel Camacaro

Boise

CHC

12

4

.667

Christopher Schwinden

Brooklyn

NYM

11

4

.636

Eduin Ciriaco

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

7

4

.429

8 tied with

3

A- Pitchers Sorted By Lowest FPct. (minimum 10 total chances)

Name

Team

Org.

TC

E

FPct.

Christopher Schwinden

Brooklyn

NYM

11

4

.636

Israel Camacaro

Boise

CHC

12

4

.667

Martin Perez

Spokane

TEX

14

4

.714

Stephen Procner

Aberdeen

BAL

16

4

.750

Joel Carreno

Auburn

TOR

13

3

.769

Simon Castro

Eugene

SDP

13

3

.769

Matthew Nevarez

Spokane

TEX

13

3

.769

Aaron Odom

Aberdeen

BAL

15

3

.800

George Brown

Batavia

STL

10

2

.800

Marquis Fleming

Hudson Valley

TBR

10

2

.800

NWL Pitchers

1316

93

.929

NYP Pitchers

1893

140

.926

A- Pitchers

3209

233

.927

Since these leagues play only about half as many games as the other levels covered so far, I've adjusted the minimum chances needed for the fielding percentage list. It's hard to tell with pitchers since their threshold was set so low anyway, but it'll become more apparent at other positions. It's a little strange that no pitcher stood out as worse than the rest, though Eduin Ciriaco didn't have a great year with the glove.

Now you can probably tell about the total chances minimum being adjusted downward. Both leagues have the same fielding percentage at catcher. I don't think that's happened at any other level so far. Note that there are two different Tri-Citys. I've noted their league in parentheses.

Phil Disher (nice name) has a comfortable lead atop the errors leaderboard. I also like Xavier Scruggs' and Dusty Napoleon's names. The two leagues have had identical fielding percentages at catcher and at first base. I wonder if they'll stay close at the rest of the positions.

A- Second Basemen

A- 2B Sorted By Most Errors

Name

Team

Org.

TC

E

FPct.

Luis Nunez

Everett

SEA

241

14

.942

Jason Ogata

Spokane

TEX

238

13

.945

Mike Gosse

Oneonta

DET

268

12

.955

Carlos Vazquez

Auburn

TOR

114

11

.904

Michael Diaz

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

135

11

.919

Isaias Velasquez

Mahoning Valley

CLE

218

11

.950

Tom Edwards

Aberdeen

BAL

91

9

.901

Jonathan Del Campo

Auburn

TOR

194

9

.954

Michael Ross

Hudson Valley

TBR

255

9

.965

David Adams

Staten Island

NYY

315

8

.975

A- 2B Sorted By Lowest FPct. (minimum 100 total chances)

Name

Team

Org.

TC

E

FPct.

Carlos Vazquez

Auburn

TOR

114

11

.904

Michael Diaz

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

135

11

.919

Luis Nunez

Everett

SEA

241

14

.942

Jason Ogata

Spokane

TEX

238

13

.945

Isaias Velasquez

Mahoning Valley

CLE

218

11

.950

Jonathan Del Campo

Auburn

TOR

194

9

.954

Robert Phelps

Mahoning Valley

CLE

110

5

.955

Mike Gosse

Oneonta

DET

268

12

.955

Jake Smolinski

Vermont

WSN

117

5

.957

Zach Gentile

Lowell

BOS

127

5

.961

NWL 2B

2901

106

.963

NYP 2B

4864

176

.964

A- 2B

7765

282

.964

This really underscores how out there Ryan Adam's 46 errors in A ball are. Nunez's 14 errors in A- ball came in only half the number of chances it took Ryan Adams to reach 46 errors. I expected error rates to get worse as levels descended, but Adams' terrible season broke up the pattern. Also worth noting is that playing time seems spread out more among players - not many players spend an overwhelming majority of their teams' games at one position. Whether that's because teams are encouraging versatility or want to get a better look at their roster, I'm not sure, but it's how more than one player on a team can show up on the list at the same position.

Those are some ugly fielding percentages. Both leagues are the same once again, but I don't think they'll be bragging anytime soon. Rodney Rutherford, half of Vancouver's duo of disaster at the hot corner, just missed becoming the first position player to make the list with a fielding percentage below .800.

A- Shortstops

A- SS Sorted By Most Errors

Name

Team

Org.

TC

E

FPct.

Joel Staples

Jamestown

FLA

307

23

.925

Brandon Douglas

Oneonta

DET

218

21

.904

Jeff Hulett

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

109

18

.835

Colt Sedbrook

Batavia

STL

191

18

.906

Jason Christian

Vancouver

OAK

257

18

.930

Robi Estrada

Hudson Valley

TBR

272

17

.938

Dani Arias

Vermont

WSN

135

16

.881

Ronald Ramirez

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

217

16

.926

Lonnie Chisenhall

Mahoning Valley

CLE

224

16

.929

Ryan Flaherty

Boise

CHC

248

16

.935

A- SS Sorted By Lowest FPct. (minimum 100 total chances)

Name

Team

Org.

TC

E

FPct.

Jeff Hulett

Tri-City (NYP)

HOU

109

18

.835

Dani Arias

Vermont

WSN

135

16

.881

Brandon Douglas

Oneonta

DET

218

21

.904

Colt Sedbrook

Batavia

STL

191

18

.906

Domnit Bolivar

Batavia

STL

112

10

.911

Chase D'Arnaud

State College

PIT

151

12

.921

Anthony Phillips

Everett

SEA

198

15

.924

Thomas Field

Tri-City (NWL)

COL

199

15

.925

Justin Parker

Yakima

ARI

120

9

.925

Joel Staples

Jamestown

FLA

307

23

.925

NWL SS

2952

182

.938

NYP SS

4824

330

.932

A- SS

7776

512

.934

Shortstops in the two short-season leagues had an easier time of it than did their brethren at the hot corner. Obviously they managed to cumulatively field in the .900's. You might recognize Domnit Bolivar's name from the third baseman list in the A ball post. He committed 23 errors at the hot corner for Quad Cities in the Midwest League. His 10 errors for Batavia took place in only 25 games.

Thanks to the abbreviated season, the outfielder with the most errors didn't even crack double digits. Brian Van Kirk did his part in making sure the Auburn outfield was a treat for Toronto pitching prospects to pitch in front of. Overall, though, outfielders did about as well in A- ball as their comrades a level up in A ball.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

I'd like to see "errors by position" broken down into 1-base errors, 2-base errors, and 3-base errors on a large sample size. If this has been done please notify me at lfbno7@aol.com. In all caps my email would be LFBNO7@AOL.COM. Thanks.